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Nasu: Summer in Andalusia follows the story of a professional Spanish cyclist, Pepe Benengeli, as he competes in a road bicycle race, similar to the Tour de France, through his home town in the Iberian region of Andalusia. As the story progresses, Pepe is faced with frustrating consequences, with him facing pressure from his sponsors and the wedding of his former girlfriend, Carmen, to his elder brother, Angel, coinciding on the same day of the penultimate stage of the bicycle race, and strives to gain the respect of his team and family.

It was adapted from a short 3-volume manga called Nasu, serialised in the wonderful Afternoon magazine. And that manga was by Iou Kuroda, who I think is also known for his critically acclaimed manga Sexy Voice and Robo.

The director was the talented Kitarou Kousaka, who's a Ghibli mainstay and that should say enough as it is.
I've heard this in many places - that Hayao Miyazaki himself picked up the manga, and remarked it was great and would make a good anime. And so it got passed onto Kousaka, who teamed up with Madhouse to create this anime.

Since there is, very sadly, no thread on this anime except maybe this, I might as well add my own $0.02 on what I think was a pretty good movie. It may have seemed very plain and understated, but I think that's what I liked about it.

Spoiler for I'm sure you're so interested in reading this:

Most of all I really loved how we got to feel the sort of festive and supportive nature of Pepe's family - and yet feel his own subtle alienation from them. This, combined with him being looked down as a mere support cyclist in the team, is what spurred him to decide: heck care what the rest of the world thinks I should be, I'm going to prove to them who I am.

This sentiment is explored a lot in many various anime, but I am particularly impressed by the way it was done in Nasu. It never felt contrived or overdone for a second (althoguh it's been some time since I watched it, but that's what I felt back then). And by the end of the movie you're literally on Pepe's side cheering for him from your heart, hoping he inches just ahead of his competitors in the exciting finale.

Yet though I say exciting it's not like it really pumps it up overmuch. One thing about the show is that it was largely quite matter-of-fact. As far as I remember there wasn't much obvious effort to make the settings or characters particularly charming - yet somehow I ended up liking it on a personal level because it felt so "homey". If you've watched the movie, one of my favourite parts is in the beginning with the cat, the pickled eggplants, the TV etc.

And now, the same team is back - with Nasu 2! There was talk of this floating around quite some time back around the time Black Lagoon premiered, I think, and it's nice to see it's come true.

I don't know much about the new Nasu, except that it's having the same director and it'll be Madhouse again - and they're also getting in Kenichi Yoshida, apparently. Also known as the character designer for shows like King Gainer and Eureka 7, Kenichi Yoshida is an ex-employee of Ghibli and has a pretty solid following I believe.

Ah, but the biggest difference is that this time it will be about Pepe and the Japan Cup. Yup, it'll be in Japan. It's kind of sad for me because to put it in the words of someone I was talking to about this, "Andalusia was the most important character in the original movie, so I imagine it'll definitely have a different flavor".

As usual it's quite clear that they're really aiming for realism and accuracy for the cycling scenes, but there's something about the trailer that worries. It's like they haven't really improved on the animation much since the last time, and also why is it still called 茄子2 (仮称)? Haven't they decided on the title yet?
If you watch it though, spot the character that looks TOTALLY yanked out of a Ghibli movie

Well, seems theyíre going with an original storyline. Not sure if thatís a good thing, to be honest, but Iím not really disappointed. Nevertheless, itís good to know about they getting a second short film, even if the art and animation is far from doing Kurodaís original designs any justice, they turn his organic and contrast heavy art into something that may be drawn by Urusawa or Miyazaki. Still, this is probably the closest weíll get to any Iou Kuroda mainstream adaptation, although thereís still that Sexy Voice and Robo live-action dorama coming.

Err, if you had read the manga you would recognize this as based on the second installment that features Pepe, from the final volume. It's not original. However, I imagine that it will have extra content, as that was just a single chapter as opposed to the more fleshed-out two-parter that was Andalusia.

Chocchi - Kouichi Yamadera
(Pepe's teammate. Unlike Pepe, who is geared up for the Japan Cup, he is reconsidering his life as a racer and toying with the prospect of retiring after his senior from the same hometown, a nationalistic man called Marco, committed suicide.)

Hikaru Toyoki - Maaya Sakamoto
(One of the volunteers who signed up to be in charge of Team Paopao at the race. She's energetic but kind; helping to sooth the pre-race tension by taking the racers out for a short tour, and cheering them on passionately.)
(Why do I have a bad feeling about this.)

The director, scriptwriter and character designer are all the same as the movie's director, Kitaro Kousaka (if you still don't know, he used to work at Ghibli.) The theme song is the same, and the music is still done by Toshiyuki Honda (no, that is not a portmanteau of our two favourite animators from Dennou Coil!) No other important staff details are given on the site. I can only presume Michio Mihara (who was assistant animation director on the movie) will come along as well...